Tag Archives: British butterflies

An early Painted Lady

05 Monday Jun 2023

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It’s three weeks since I saw my first Painted lady of the year and I’ve not seen another since then. Apart from a sighting in early April some years ago, I don’t usually see them until the summer. Considering this beauty had flown across to south Wales from Europe, battling wind and weather along the way, it was looking remarkably good – a little faded on the wings perhaps, a couple of small snippets missing along the edges of its wings where birds had tried but failed to grab it. I’m looking forward to seeing many more Painted ladies as the summer progresses.

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The illegals

30 Tuesday May 2023

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It’s happening again. Some idiot is fiddling with our local butterflies, illegally. This month, Marsh fritillaries have been spotted at Lavernock Nature Reserve, at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, and along one of the reens (streams) at Rumney, on the eastern outskirts of Cardiff.

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The sightings at Cosmeston and Rumney were of solitary butterflies and, though Cosmeston is not much more than a mile from Lavernock, Rumney is nowhere near any known site and Marsh fritillaries are not strong fliers so neither of these butterflies is likely to have arrived accidently. Also, though Cosmeston does have some areas of Devil’s-bit scabious, the butterfly’s larval food plant, Rumney has none. Hence my description of the person doing this as an idiot – the butterflies at Cosmeston and Rumney have no chance at all of establishing a colony.

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The situation at Lavernock is a little different, as at least three Marsh fritillaries were found there last year (see An illegal introduction, May 2022). There is a slim possibility those butterflies bred and this year’s fritillaries are the result, but the experts I’ve been in contact with believe it is much more likely these 2023 butterflies are more illegal introductions.

230530 marsh fritillary (4) male

The British population of Marsh fritillaries has been in steady decline for many years so these gorgeous butterflies definitely need help but these random releases in unsuitable locations are not the answer. In south Wales, a large-scale, properly managed and licensed conservation project is already underway. If you’re interested in finding out more, check out the project page and the more recent news page on the Initiative for Nature Conservation Cymru (INCC) website.

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Mr and Ms Orange-tip

23 Tuesday May 2023

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It was early April when I saw my first male Orange-tip this year but, as usual with those early hatching males, it zipped past at the speed of flight, and it’s taken several weeks to get close enough to one that had paused, briefly, to refuel to get some half-way decent photos. And most males continue to zoom quickly past, searching – always searching for an available female to mate with.

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The females are much more laid back – no need to spend their time and energy searching when the males will almost certainly find them. Instead, they feed and rest, and pose very nicely for any passing photographer who wants to appreciate their beauty.

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Red admiral egg

11 Thursday May 2023

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During Sunday’s wander around the boundaries of some local horse fields (minus the nosey horses, this time), the sun wasn’t shining or warm enough for any butterflies to be found on the thick hedges and scrubby edges. This lovely female Red admiral was the one exception, appearing suddenly from behind a large bramble patch.

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How do I know it was a female? Well, instead of flying off to patrol the bushes, she floated above and around the abundant, fresh Stinging nettles, looking for the best places to lay her eggs. How do I know they were Stinging nettles? Well, despite wrapping my fingers in the layers of my scarf, I still got stung on a couple of fingers while getting my first ever sighting and photographs of one of her eggs, a magnificent little ribbed barrel that should produce a tiny caterpillar in a week or so.

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Pieris napi

08 Monday May 2023

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My first confirmed sighting of a Green-veined white of 2023 came later than usual, last Thursday, 4 May, but it more than made up for its tardiness by posing beautifully on some not-quite-opened Hawthorn blossom. I love its scientific name Pieris napi, the Latin Pieris coming from the Ancient Greek Πιερίς meaning a muse and its specific name napi being a reference to one of its larval foodplants, Oil-seed rape (Brassica napus).

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The first skipper

04 Thursday May 2023

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I tend to avoid the local country park on bank holidays, as it can be difficult to find the peace and solitude I prefer during my walks but, luckily, on the May Day holiday, most people were sticking to the walks around the lakes, the children’s playground and those places where they could buy food and drinks. So, a circuitous walk around the various paddocks and through a sheltered woodland clearing turned up my first Small tortoiseshell butterfly of the year and this beauty, my first Dingy skipper. Bank holiday bonuses both!

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The first of the whites

13 Thursday Apr 2023

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I think I was probably a little later to the Small white party than most locals this year, possibly because they have gardens and/or allotments, which the Small white butterfly (Pieris rapae) very much enjoys (though, I hasten to add that the Small white is not as destructive as many gardeners might think and it is actually the Large white, which lays its eggs in batches rather than singly, whose larvae can quickly strip those precious cabbage leaves to their veins).

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This particular Small white, one of my first three seen on 7 April, has the typical markings of a female hatching from her over-wintering pupa in the springtime, with very pale grey markings on her wing tips and a small pale grey dot on her upper wings. The butterflies that hatch in the summer will have much darker, almost black markings. These differences are known as seasonal dimorphism.

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The weather effect

06 Thursday Apr 2023

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The weather effect? By 1 April last year, I’d clocked 63 butterflies of 7 species. This year I’d only recorded 13 butterflies of 4 species. As well as our very wet and cool spring, it seems that last year’s hot dry summer is also having a prolonged effect on butterfly numbers. Butterfly Conservation has warned that

Drought impacts the offspring of the butterflies that are flying during the hot dry weather by causing the plants that caterpillars rely on for food to wither and die. Without sufficient food, many caterpillars will fail to survive, leading to lower numbers of butterflies in the next generation. For some of the UK species that have more than one generation in a year, the resulting major decline in numbers has already been seen. However, for others, the next generation isn’t on the wing until this summer, meaning there could be noticeably fewer butterflies around in 2023.

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Imagine my delight then, when I finally spotted not one but my first two Speckled woods of 2023, a week later than last year. Let’s hope this year’s weather is a little more kind to our insect neighbours, though climate change is already affecting and will continue to affect them.

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